Styles

The Essentials

AllMusic Review
by Rob Theakston

Looking very much like a boy band set on winning over the hearts of teens all over the provinces of Canada, Wide Mouth Mason's sound is the furthest thing away from their youthful, stylish presentation. This blues-rock trio draws more from the guitar rock gods of the past than their modern contemporaries, and deliver a gutsy feeling that's polished but not precious. This 12-song offering focuses on the early years of their career, drawing largely from their eponymous 1997 debut and its 1999 follow-up, Where I Started. It's not a comprehensive overview of the group's career, but it does offer most of their well-known Canadian chart hits on one disc, and is a nice road map for those looking to dig deeper into their back catalog.